Indiana Jones and The Blade of Avalon
by Livin In Sin
Summary: A year after their Last Crusade, the Jones boys are at it again. Off to find the legendary Caliburn, better known as Excalibur on a hidden island which has eluded men for centuries.
1. A Vacation?

I just watched Crystal Skull, an' if you don't feel like writing an Indy fic after seeing a brand new Indy movie then you're just not human. This chapter isn't long, rest assured they'll get more lengthly as we go, this is just a sneak peak to wet your appetites. I know Excalibur has probably been done and I know for a fact Avalon has, but I'm English so go figure, not greatly familiar with the Arthurian legend, but every boy dreamed of being Lancelot at some stage, just like every boy has dreamed of being Indy, so that more than qualifies me I reckon.

Light-Hearted-But-Still-Valid-Disclaimer: Don't own Jones, damn it all.

Indiana Jones and the Blade of Avalon

A Vacation?

_Just Outside Cairo_

_Semptember 23 1939_

_02:00am Local Time_

Indy continued to struggle as he was pulled out of the car and over to the newly excavated temple, it was Greek/Macedonian, little more than a shrine, probably a way shrine intended for passing Greek merchants, probably post Alexander, but Dr Henry Jones Junior had little else better to do, okay so it was the fabled resting place of a golden arrow worth more than Doctor Jones made in a month, which is also the reason he hadn't taken a great deal of care about dating the site, no point in splitting hairs. Indiana now found himself with a muscular German at each arm and a very deep hole in front of him, not the way one should spend the ideal morning. "I can assure you Doctor Jones, you'll find lying in this place quite restful, a permanent vacation if you will." The slick haired, beady eyed SS Officer turned archaeologist, Karl Glick sneered from behind.

"Thanks sour puss, but I already took my vacation this year." The two Nazi's hurled him forward, he teetered on the edge and his toes a second before splaying himself across the hole, his fingers clawing at the newly exposed stonework. It was at this point that the gunshots started The spooked Germans scampered for cover, the indignant officer actually running over the poor Doctor in an attempt to get to safety and having the absolute nerve to trample all over his fingers as he did so. Calling up all the strength he could Indiana pushed himself into a quick handstand as the fascist dismounted him before tumbling onto his back in the sand, kicking out at the slime ball's calves and taking his legs out from under him as he did so.

The sneering officer landed beside Indy in the sand and Jones had no qualms about introducing his elbow to that amateur's nose before snatching the arrow clutched in his greedy fingers and making a dash for freedom. Reaching the bottom of the sand dune which concealed the shrine he saw Sallah speed into view on a horse and bringing a second for Indy, reins in one hand rifle in the other. As Sallah sped by with the horses he swung himself up onto one.

He was soon aware that he had made a slight miscalculation as he found himself sitting behind an equally surprised Sallah. But Sallah wasn't looking at him, more at the car behind them, speeding down the beaten dirt track which lead back to Cairo. Stretching out his right foot Indy slipped it into the stirrup of the second horse's saddle and swung his other leg over. Another slight miscalculation as he was now sitting the wrong way in the saddle. His horse startled by the engine and lack of any direction from its rider sped up and overtook Indy's even more confused and now slightly amused comrade. Scowling Indy snatched Sallah's rifle and levelled it at the approaching Nazi's.

Over the neighing horses and roaring engine he heard the mocking words, "Farewell Doctor Jones!" shouted in a thick German accent. Cocking the gun Indy let off a shot, hit the driver's arm and caused him to spin out off the track and into a dune. Swinging himself back around he heard curses and scoldings bellowed in German and they brought a smile to his lips. The companions sped off into the dawn and to freedom.

* * *

_The USA_

_Two Days Later_

"Well?" Marcus asked once the last of Indy's student's had been dismissed. Indy smiled and strode over to his desk, picked up his bag and opened it, removing a thin object wrapped in three or four layers of cloth. Opening it slightly he showed Marcus the golden arrowhead within, glittering on the end of its shaft.

"A single piece of gold." Indy stated, "And still intact after all these years, that's got to be worth top bill right?"

"Oh yes." Marcus agreed as he received the carefully wrapped parcel from Indy, "Only a minor artefact but by God I never imagined it would be so beautiful. One of a kind?"

"It is now, the statue had a quiver full of those things until der fuhrer dropped a ceiling on it. They'd look for a toothpick with a chainsaw and cut the bottom out of my wallet while they were at it."

"This kind of thing is why you're never going to get to retire Indy."

"Tell me about it." After negotiating on a rough price with Marcus Indy decided to make his way home, it just so happened that Henry Jones Senior was due to drop in for a couple of days and Indy wasn't due to give another lecture until he'd left. After finding the Grail the older Jones had developed a remarkable energy and the first thing he'd wanted to do upon getting home was get back out in the field, it really was as though he had gained a 'spring of life' within him. When the old man got excited enough even Indy could barely keep up with him these days. He'd spent the time since visiting the canyon of the crescent moon chasing up loose ends of his Grail research.

The scratchings of a pen reached his ears as he opened the door, never not working, always absorbed in something, that was Indy' dad alright. Nearly tripping over the case left absentmindedly in the hall Indy swore under his breath and backed up towards the door to his sitting room. "Dad y'know you left your case..." The sight that met Indy as he turned around would chill him to his very foundations.

One could tell Henry Jones was around, not merely because he was actually in the room, but because the room itself had been swamped in documents, loose pieces of paper and leather bound volumes of god knows what. And there he was sitting in the middle of it all, oblivious to the fact that it looked as though someone had dropped a library on Indy's house. "Junior you're back!" The older Jones greeted his son, he got up from where he'd been sat, the sofa by Indy's coffee table, which looked more like a desk seeing as how it was swamped in notes. As the older man embraced him Indy only looked on in fright at his room.

"Well come on you better get packing." Henry said as he pulled away. "Lot's of work to do."

"Dad..."

Henry fished out his bag and umbrella, swept an untidy pile of notes into the bag and shoved it into Indy's arms, "No time to waste, never know, eh? Somebody could very well get to it before us."

"Dad..."

"Come on don't stand there with your mouth gaping, we need to get under way right now." Henry said shooing the younger Jones out into the hall. "Did you knock my suitcase over Oh never mind we've got to be gone yesterday."

"Dad." Indy had raised his voice a little, not out of anger, mainly because he just wanted to be heard, "What?" They stood there for a second, Henry cocked his head and then clapped his hands all of a sudden.

"Of course! You don't know do you?" The older Jones rushed back into the room he'd come from and soon reappeared with a single piece of paper. Discarding his father's bag by his suitcase Indy moved closer and looked at the sketch that the paper bore. Taking it in his hands he squinted down at it.

"Well... it's a sword." Indiana observed, Henry gave a little nod. "A pretty impressive sword, serpentine design on the cross-piece, jewelled hilt. Weapon fit for a king as far as I can see." Henry gave another nod and was quite to add.

"Quite right, THE King. King Arthur of Camelot himself."

"No." the younger Jones exclaimed in disbelief Indy looked closer at the sketch, it was so obvious, it matched every description of Excalibur he'd ever heard, "Serpentine cross-piece right down to the runes on the blade, 'Take me up.' And you've got a lead on this?" His father nodded and Indy smiled as the two Joneses left the house, off on another adventure.


	2. Flying Coach

This ones shorter than I would have liked, but the category's started to flood, guess I'm not the only one who's seen Kingdom this week. Anyway this chapter has a little more action to begin with, but be glad of it because the next one'll be pretty dialogue intensive.

Indiana Jones and The Blade of Avalon

Flying Coach

_Somewhere above France_

Henry had booked the flight in advance, he'd known that Indiana would want to come after he heard that they were going after Excalibur, after the incident with the Grail it seemed they were both ready to take a few things on faith alone. "When I first stumbled upon something that might lead me to this, I never gave it a second though you know?" Henry explained, "Once I knew that the Grail wasn't in Avalon I lost interest. Glad I kept my notes."

Indiana was leaning back in his seat and had pulled the brim of fedora down over his eyes, in an attempt to get some shut eye, but his father was making it more than difficult, "I'll bet." He said, giving a minimal response in the hope that the conversation might peter out and he would be able to get some rest.

"But I overlooked so much while I was consumed by the need to find the Grail. I didn't realize that all the pieces were there for me, I just needed to get them straight." Indy was surprised when his father simply stopped dead, surprised but relieved, until he heard the gun click beside his head.

"Oh no." He groaned as he adjusted his fedora, only to be met by two men, black trench coats, one pointing a gun at him from under his jacket. One of them he recognized, "Glick, how the hell ya been?"

The Nazi smiled down at him, his friend with the firearm extended no such courtesy. "Up." Glick commanded.

"I dunno where we're gonna go, we are pretty high up Glick." The guy with the gun, who was clearly more muscle than brain took this as his cue to strike Jones across the face as he stood up. Regaining his bearings Indy turned his head back toward the guy and in a flash of movement had head butted him in the nose, taking advantage of his pain he wrestled the gun from his hands and stepped into the aisle. "I my how the might have fallen." Glick burst into a fit of laughter only interrupted when Indy demanded answers of him. He pressed the gun right up against the man's skull but he just kept laughing."Spill it!"

Glick reined in his laughter for a second to inform the enigmatic Doctor that he'd made quite the fatal mistake, "It's empty." Glick's hired muscle had by this time recovered and wasted no time in retaliating, punching Indy square in the face, sending him sliding down the aisle toward the back of the plane. "And to answer your question Doctor Jones, you'll be taking the short route from here to France if your father isn't willing to cooperate.

To illustrate his point the Nazi goon had already dragged Indy over to the back door of the cabin and was now attempting to drag him up from the ground, Indy of course was having none of it and had wasted little time in changing the tone of the fight by jabbing the muscle bound galoot right in his eyes. This didn't improve his predicament much as it only earned him another shot to the face.

"Now Doctor Jones. What shall we talk about?" Glick asked sarcastically, occupying Indy's former saeat. Frantic gasps had begun to sound as people had risen from their seats to observe Indy's battle. "What's this?" Glick asked with equal sarcasm as he leaned over Henry's notebook, "Why Doctor Jones I had no idea you were an artist." He motioned to take the sketch of Excalibur, but Henry had already slammed down his hand on it.

"Do you really think you have any hope of succeeding?" He asked a righteous light flashing at Glick from behind the good Doctor's eyes.

Glick gave another chuckle, "And what exactly can you do to stop us?"

"Not me." Henry explained before pointing into the aisle where Indiana was now standing, "Him." Wordlessly Indy dragged the Nazi out of his seat and bowled him down the aisle, tripping up his heavily beaten comrade who had come rushing to help and landed square on his already busted nose. Running down the aisle and over the 'hired help' Indy made his way down to the door where he grabbed a parachute and thrust it into Glick's arms before booting him out of the door, nearly taking it off its hinges as the Nazi was thrust into the open air. Cheers rang up from all around the craft as Indy pulled the cabin door closed and made his way back to his seat, making a point of walking all over the other Nazi.

"This is just an ordinary day at the office for you isn't it?" His father asked as he sat back down.

"Same old, same old." Finally Indy tipped down his fedora again and got his well deserved sleep.

* * *

The next moment that Indy was aware of his surroundings they were a little different than what he'd imagined they would be. Far from a commercial airport they were now in what appeared to be an English airbase. Henry was quick to explain that they'd had to divert because of the cabin being de-pressurized, as they disembarked Indy groaned at the typical British weather outside of the hangar. Rain, with no signs of stopping. His dad merely smiled, popping open his umbrella and striding out into the air.

"Doctor Jones!" A shout reached them as they were about to leave the hangar, they both turned to see where it had come from. It was a boy not very much older than one of Indy's students, curled red hair, strong jaw, apparently with the RAF seeing as how he was wearing a flight suit. Indy was about to extend him a handshake before he completely disregarded him and ran past towards Doctor Jones Sr. much to Indy's embarrassment. "Good to see you again, I trust you remember me?"

"I do." The elder Jones replied offering him a had, which the youngster eagerly took, "As I recall you were quite a keen student. What brought you here?"

"Same thing that brought Arthur to Camelot, I want to keep my country safe. But I couldn't pass up this chance to speak to you again. I was about to go to the meeting place we'd discussed when I heard your plane had been diverted."

Suddenly aware that he'd been neglecting his boy Henry pointed him out to the younger man, "That's my son, Indiana as he likes to be called, he'll be joining us for this dig. Indiana this is David Nelson, a friend's son and one time student."

Indy made his way over to them and received a handshake from the young pilot, "Well any friend of Dad's... wait, Nelson... as in Ellis Nelson?"

"Yeah, that's my father. You a fan of his work Indiana?" David replied.

"Read a piece of his on the Arthur legend once, interesting stuff, but I got the impression he was being swept along with the myth a little."

"Well you'd know all about being swept along with myths eh junior?" The elder Jones remarked, earning him a half smile, half frown from his son, "David here is going to provide us with lodgings for the duration of our stay."

"The car's right over here." David motioned to where he'd parked not far from the hangar itself. Upon climbing in Indiana wasted no time in placing his feet on the headrest of the front passenger seat and getting even more well deserved shut eye.

* * *

A few hours later the trio had crossed into Wales and made it to the coast, after moving their luggage into the manor house which was to host them for their dig they had assembled by the fireplace in the study to discuss their moves for the next few days.

"There's a site not far from here that my father had marked out for excavation right before he died, it's a cave not too far from here, sitting right under his nose all of that time and he never even poked his head around the entrance." David explained, Henry knew of all this already, but this was more a case of filling in the blanks for Indy. "I don't know why or even what we might find down there, but he was pretty confident that it would lead us to Excalibur. He was a secretive sort... never told me more than I needed to know, never told anyone more than they needed to know. I think he was much closer than we realize."

"Ellis and I met when we were still both young." Henry interjected, "He spent his entire life in search of Excalibur. In many ways his search parallels my own. When I was finished with my own affair I thought I owed it to him to help conclude his."

Leaning back in one of the many, many comfortable coaches which dotted the house Indiana peered out of the window at the coast. "Looks pretty rough." He observed, this was an understatement, Applewatch as the estate was called was built on a cliff overlooking an entirely inconsequential coastal town and at this point the full wrath of God might as well have been pouring down on the place. Indy couldn't tell the difference between the rain lashing down or the spray whipping up over the cliffs. "I would have liked to get out there tonight since Glick and his boys are after this sword a well."

"Yes, I can only imagine what the fuhrer would want with Excalibur."

Henry pondered this a moment, "Well just imagine. Britain's greatest weapon in the hands of the enemy, morale would collapse completely overnight. And if the legends about Excalibur are true, well then I quake for England."

"I as well." David said heavily.

"Well until you two are done quaking," Indy said as he rose out from his seat, "I'll be in my room."

* * *

It was late that night when a thunderclap roused Indiana from his slumber. For moment he felt like he was still dreaming, he heard voices from downstairs, were those two still up? Pulling his clothes on Indy descended the stairs. The light was still on in the study, looked as if Dad was still pouring over notes with his adoring fan.

Standing in the door frame Indy was met by the sight of what looked like a tavern brawl. "Junior! Where were you?" His father demanded. Looking past him he saw David by a broken window with his clothes ruffled and shirt torn. Apparently the thunderclap that woke him wasn't a thunderclap at all. "They took everything! All my notes on Avalon, the drawings of Excalibur, the locations of all Nelson's planned digs!" Settling into one of the chairs, which now had had its cover slashed open he sighed, "Everything."

Retrieving his jacket from by the door Indy donned his hat and stood in the doorway, cutting a dynamic figure with one hand against his hip. "Then we've only got one lead and it's about time we followed it."

The waves crashed against the rocks like a hammer upon an anvil, the rain lashed downwards with all the strength of hailing bullets, if Indy didn't know better he'd swear that something didn't want them to be here. Looking down of the cliff face he observed the bone shattering waves as they struck. "I haven't seen a storm like this since of was nine." David observed as he backed away from the edge. "You go first Indy."

They'd tied off the rope they'd brought on a nearby oak tree, it would hold while they descended into the unknown. "This is—" Indiana almost said 'intolerable' before catching hold of himself, he wasn't THAT old, not yet, not for a long time. "I must be out of my mind." He was at this point halfway down the rope with David following close, he could already see the cave mouth. He was struck by a wave and almost swept out to sea, had it not been for his trusty whip and that he had the presence of mind to lash it to David's lower leg.

"Indy! I am not an anchor! Get back on the rope!" Swinging with all his weight and with a flick of his wrist Indy dislodged the whip and catapulted himself into the cave mouth. "Show off!" David descended all the faster in order to get himself inside.


End file.
